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The Northern Panhandle, like most of West Virginia, is decked out in a red it would rather not be wearing at Christmas.
All four Northern Panhandle counties were in "red" on the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources COVID-19 alert map Thursday morning. They were among 35 of West Virginia's 55 counties that were in "red," the map's highest-risk category.
According to the DHHR map, as of 10 a.m. Thursday, West Virginia had received reports of 1,303 new positive cases and 34 deaths in the previous 24 hours.
In more promising news, none of the four Northern Panhandle counties had infection rates above 100 cases per 100,000 residents, a mark that Hancock and Brooke counties had eclipsed earlier this week.
Hancock County had an infection rate of 90.25 cases per 100,000 residents on Thursday's map, with a percent positivity of 17.46, which was the highest percent positivity among all counties on Thursday's map. Brooke County had an infection rate of 88.56 cases per 100,000 residents with a percent positivity of 11.72.
Ohio County had an infection rate of 69.68 cases per 100,000 residents and a percent positivity of 10.15. Marshall County had an infection rate of 48.19 cases per 100,000 residents and a percent positivity of 10.51.
Daily reports from the Marshall County Health Department and Wheeling-Ohio County Health Department had not been released as of Thursday afternoon. The Marshall County Health Department was closed Thursday and Friday for the holidays.